England has been awarded the final Test against Pakistan in sensational fashion, after the visitors refused to take the field following accusations of ball-tampering on the fourth day at The Oval..jpg)
Pakistan's refused to return after the tea break, after being penalised five runs for ball tampering by umpires Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove, and after discussion between the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Pakistan Cricket Board, England has been awarded the game on forfeit.
"After lengthy negotiations which resulted in agreement between the teams, the match referee and both the ECB and PCB to resume the fourth Test tomorrow, it was concluded that with regret there will be no play on the fifth day," a joint statement from ICC, ECB, PCB read.
"The fourth Test has therefore been forfeited with the match being awarded to England."
"In accordance with the laws of cricket, it was noted that the umpires had correctly deemed that Pakistan had forfeited the match and awarded the Test to England."
"The Pakistan team was aggrieved by the award of five penalty runs to England."
"The award of those penalty runs for alleged interference with the ball is under review by the ICC match referee Mike Proctor, whose report will be considered in due course."
"ICC will be issuing a separate report concerning action which may be taken in relation to the forfeiture of the match by Pakistan."
The issue has been complicated by claims that Hair and Doctrove refused to return after Pakistan had agreed to play on late in the day.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said the whole affair had arisen due to a misunderstanding.
"We simply said we would stay indoors for a few minutes then go out and play," he said. "We want to play but the umpires do not."
Starting the day on 1-78 and still trailing Pakistan's first innings total by 253 runs, England looked set for a tough task ahead.
Then, after a strong session with the bat and sitting comfortably on 3-230, the controversy started when the umpires stopped play to examine the match ball's condition.
The ball, only 56 overs old, appeared to be reverse-swinging and the umpires concluded it had been artificially doctored.
Pakistan was handed an instant five-run penalty and England batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood were told to select another ball.
Visiting skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq appeared deeply frazzled by the decision but his side remained out in the middle until the tea break.
Following the resumption, however, there was no sign of Pakistan and umpires removed the bails.
Thirty minutes later the Pakistan skipper led his side onto the pitch but was told that play had been suspended and that the umpires would not be returning to the middle.
Khan said the team had been deeply offended by the umpires' allegations of cheating.
"The umpires have concluded the ball was deliberately scuffed and we are absolutely 100% sure that is not the case," he said.
"What we feel very resentful about is that the captain was not informed something was going wrong with the ball and told to contain it."
"Umpires are within their rights to decide without consulting but there was no consultation with anyone and no evidence seems to have been given."
Khan also said it was very difficult to prove an allegation of ball-tampering true.
"One or two of the management staff have had a look and are convinced this is a ball which has been hit about for 56 overs," he said.
"We think it's the kind of ball you'd expect to see and there is no evidence of deliberate scuffing. We hope the ball will be showed so people can make up their own minds about it."
